Use of software agent objects such as "intelligent agents" is known. An intelligent agent functions asynchronously and autonomously, and is programmed for artificial reasoning and learned behavior to perform assigned tasks and make decisions on behalf of an associated "owner," such as a software application.
Agents must have communications capabilities in order to perform assigned tasks. Agent communication may take the form of queries and collaborative computations including coordination of results from multiple agents to achieve a desired task. In order to collaborate, protocols must be specified for interaction between agents. One approach is to implement a user model and specify queries and assertions with a knowledge representation language, such as the Knowledge Query Manipulation Language ("KQML"), and develop ontologies or vocabularies of common terms to be utilized by interacting agents. KQML includes both a language with syntax unlike procedural or object-oriented languages and a communications protocol. An ontology is an explicit specification such as the Knowledge Interface Format ("KIF"), with syntax and semantics being extensions of a first-order predicate calculus. However, the KQML/ontology mechanism and other knowledge representation languages are not ideal for general purpose software application development. Use of such mechanisms requires aptitude in multiple languages in order to specify communications and develop complex dictionaries of terms. Further, knowledge representation languages are unlike the procedural and object-oriented languages that are typically utilized for software development. Therefore, an improved framework for supporting agent collaboration is desirable.